Retro Game Walkthroughs For
"Sonic Rush"
(Nintendo DS)

*** SONIC RUSH GUIDE ***



** CONTENTS **
1 – The Basics
2 – Handy Hints and Tricks
3 – Level FAQ
4 – Boss Guide
5 – Bonus Stage Basics
6 – The Final Emerald
7 – Exception



** SECTION 1 – The Basics **

The basic controls of both Sonic and Blaze are very similar. Both use either A or B to jump and X or Y to rush. Pushing R while Sonic is jumping will make him dash left or right, getting some extra horizontal distance. Pressing and holding R while Blaze is jumping will make her hover for a period of time, getting extra distance as well as slowing her descent.

You can increase your tension gauge (which lets you rush) in a number of ways. The most basic of these is to defeat enemies. Pressing X or Y to rush will decrease your tension, while getting hit by enemies will also decrease it. Pressing X or Y means you’ll get a speed boost, and while you hold the button down, Sonic or Blaze will take out any enemies in their paths, although attacks and projectiles can still harm them. If you want to keep your gauge topped up, you’ll need to learn how to perform tricks.

The basic tricks are common to both characters.

The most common tricks must be performed in the air, although cannot be done just through jumping (ie. you need a bumper or other item in the level to shoot you into the air). Tapping B once will perform a single basic trick. Tapping it three times in a row will perform a string of three tricks. However, to get a better finish you want to press B-B-A rather than B-B-B.

The other common trick occurs whilst grinding. Press R once to trick while grinding. Press it three times to do a string of three tricks. After this you will have to wait a while to be able to pull off more tricks, but if the grinding surface is long enough you may be able to pull off a couple of the strings of three tricks.

The final type of trick for both characters is also the hardest to do, as you only have a very limited time to do it. As you’re at the very edge of one of the small triangular ramps that launch you into the air, tap A. This is hard at first, especially when you have no idea where the ramps are located in levels and when they’re going to crop up, but soon it’ll become instinct.

The other tricks are slightly different dependent on character.

While in the air with either (again, not through jumping, but being launched by something), press Up and R together. Sonic will do a little hop, getting a bit more air, while Blaze will use her boosters to get loads more air, and can also attack enemies at the same time. Both these can be used in while pulling off the B-B-B / B-B-A air tricks to get extra air and pull off more tricks before landing (netting more points and tension).

Again, while in the air, press left or right with R. Sonic will do a flying kick, moving horizontally very fast and also attacking enemies. Blaze will dash horizontally, although she won’t attack enemies. Be careful while using this move with Sonic, as sometimes you will think you are going to execute a flying kick on an enemy, but because you weren’t launched into the air, you simply jumped, you’ll just do a normal R dash, which doesn’t attack enemies, and will cause Sonic to get damaged on contact with foes.

Most levels have some areas that will become closed off when you enter, and an enemy count will appear. You’ll have to kill all the enemies in the area to progress. Generally the quickest method is to use your rush to ram enemies, or use your down and B attack.

Many acts will also feature sections where you run down a steep hill, chased by a large ball. If the ball hits you, you’re dead. So, to avoid an untimely death, you will probably need to use your rush by pressing X or Y. At the end of a hill there will generally be a ramp to project you into the air as the ball falls below. Most of the time you’ll just need to rush at the end of the hill, as you approach the ramp, to ensure the ball doesn’t crush you at the last moment.

As most levels are relatively simple to complete (and have numerous paths through them), I won’t go into details of how to complete each one. However, some common problems with specific Zones and Acts are tackled in Section 3 of the guide.



** SECTION 2 – Handy Hints and Tricks **

If you’re looking to get lots of extra lives, the best place to do so is Dead Line Act 2, maybe a bit pointless as it’s the last ‘normal’ Act, but regardless. Anyway, there’s loads of rings on offer here, especially in the sections where you bounce between the bottom and top screens, sandwiched by bouncers on the floor and ceiling. There’s also a magnetic shield in the Act that should prove invaluable in collecting these rings in record time. You can grab literally hundreds of rings relatively easily on this stage, so if you’re looking to grab loads of lives for whatever reason, this is the place to do it.

If, on the other hand, you just want to conserve lives, when you pause the game on any level that you’ve already completed, you’ll see the ‘Go Back’ option. Use this to return to the level select screen. The trick with this is it can be used at any time, even just after you’ve died. Sonic or Blaze will fly into the air as they die before falling off the bottom edge of the screen. Before they fall off the screen, simply hit Start and select ‘Go Back’ to prevent the loss of a life.



** SECTION 3 – Level FAQ **

Water Palace: "I keep drowning!"
As in most Sonic games, the ‘water’ level includes some sections underwater, and when that dreaded music starts playing you have about 5 seconds to find some air. To keep from drowning, the best tactic is to stop and take a breather whenever you see some air bubbles on the ground. Stand there and wait for a big bubble to emerge, and you’ll get a gulp of air, and you can continue your underwater exploration. If you can’t see any bubbles and your five-second warning is there, use the X and Y buttons to rush, and try and get through the underwater section and out into the air. If there is anything to launch you, make sure you use the up and R trick to get extra height, as this may boost you out of the water for a gasp of air. Also, invincibility found in item boxes will stop you from drowning, so if you notice one lying around, be sure to pick it up.

Mirage Road Act 2: "I keep getting killed on the platform in the water with the boulders!"
Remember that at this point you can use up and down to move slightly ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the screen to avoid getting hit. However, this means you can no longer use down to duck, and pull off Sonic and Blazes spin attack. If you keep to the far right of the platform, most boulders will simply go over your head, and they generally won’t bounce to the right, but to the left. When enemies fall, the most efficient way to take them out is to use your rush to smash through them, as you cannot use your spin attacks. Just keep to the right and dash left to smash enemies, then dash back to the right, and you should be fine.

Night Carnival: "When I run into one of the giant screw devices, it stops halfway!"
This is a simple problem, you just need to use your rush to boost just before you hit the device, and you’ll have enough momentum to get you all the way across.

Night Carnival: "I can see where I’m meant to be going, but I can’t get high enough!"
Make sure you make use of the Up and R move with both characters. If you’re playing as Blaze, you should have no problem reaching high platforms if you use Up and R, although Sonic may take a bit of practice, as you’ll probably have to time the move so you use it at the point where Sonic is at his highest.

Night Carnival Act2: "The lights have gone out!"
Sometimes you’ll fall onto the bottom screen and the lights will all go out. At this point you’ll need to find a switch (it should be lit up against the darkened background) and hit it. The lights will then go back on temporarily, and you should be able to see where you’re headed. You should hurry though, as some platforms will only stay ‘solid’ while the lights are still on (ie. you’ll fall through them if the lights go out again).

Altitude Limit Act 2: "I keep getting killed by all the spikes on the grind bar near the start of the act!"
There’s a very simple solution to this, just rush through them! If you use X or Y to rush along the grind bar, the spikes will be destroyed, and as a bonus they fly into the air hitting enemies, and any rings they hit will become yours. The only thing you need to be careful about is when you reach the end of a bar. Sonic or Blaze will automatically leap into the air, which will usually get you high enough to get onto the next bar, but sometimes you may need to use Up and B to get a little extra air.

Altitude Limit Act 2: "The flying platform with rocket boosters I’m on keeps hitting walls and blowing up, so I die!"
Soon after the semi-3D glider section in Act 2, you need to navigate a flying platform through quite small gaps lined with spikes. At first it is tempting to try doing it by jumping off the platform temporarily, which makes the platform fall slightly before it starts ascending again. This won’t work, as the platform will pretty much always fall too far and hit the floor, or you’ll be too close to the spikes above when you jump, so you’ll get hit and fall down. The trick is that the spikes themselves won’t actually make the platform blow up. You can ‘hit’ them with the platform and the platform will go through them. So to get through the gaps you just need to stay slightly left from them, not right up against the wall, and when you have the right line, hold right and nip through the gap, skimming the bottom spikes with the right-hand side of the platform. After getting through two small gaps, just avoid the flying enemies with the platform, jump off, and the end ring is right in front of you!



** SECTION 4 – Boss Guide **

* General Boss Hints:
The first thing to note about all bosses is that you won’t have a tension gauge, so you won’t have the ability to rush. Also, a number of rings will be located in the stage, and no more will become available, so make good use of those that you have.

If you just want to get past a boss, then usually it’s not a good idea to collect all rings at the start. If you get hit you’ll lose all rings, and they’ll bounce around for a while. If you don’t manage to collect any before they disappear, you’ll have none, so it’s best to leave a few hanging around the boss stage just in case you are hit and don’t manage to collect your rings back.

Also, the more you are hit, the higher and further away rings will bounce, making it much harder to collect them. Conversely, the first couple of times you’re hit, your rings will usually fall very close to you, so try your best to pick them all up so you don’t have to pick up more that are dotted around the stage.

And with these simple but useful hints out of the way, we’ll move onto each individual boss in turn.


* Leaf Storm Boss:
As the first boss, this one is a relatively easy introduction, although there’s still a challenge to be had from it. The boss stage is 2D and you have no tension gauge, so no rush ability. There are a few rings scattered about, so pick some up, but it’s a good idea on boss stages to leave a few lying around in case you get hit and can’t manage to collect any of the rings you drop. The boss has three different attacks, and two of them can deliver an instant kill.

When you hear ‘Take This!’ the first attack is coming. The ‘head’ of the boss flings back, and comes down. Use Down and B or simply run to dodge the attack. When the ‘head’ is down, jump up and hit the flashing section of the boss. The second attack occurs when you hear ‘Get Ready to be Schooled!’, and is essentially the same as the first attack, but more powerful, as the boss connecting with the blow will lead to instant death for you. Fortunately this attack will not follow you as much, so as soon as the head is drawn back fully, that is the position it will strike, so you can simply run out of the way. Again, when the head is down hit the flashing portion to hurt the boss.

The final type of attack involves the boss dropping the head section onto the platform you are on. The perspective will change slightly, and the ‘head’ cylinder will spin along the platform. You have to jump over this, or it’ll knock you right off the ledge, leading to an instant kill. The cylinder can roll across the screen a number of times before the boss will pick it back up again. After this attack there is no opportunity to hit the boss.


* Water Palace Boss:
This boss battle takes place on top of a round cylinder, with Sonic being able to run around the edge in a circle. The first attack the Loch-Ness monster styled boss will make is chasing you round the stage, then attempting to launch itself on top of you. Initially you want to run away from the boss, but as it jumps up into the air and you hear ‘Take This!’, quickly stop and run back in the opposite direction, or use Down and B to make a quick get away, and prevent yourself getting crushed. At this point the boss will move to the central ‘hole’ of the cylinder, and its head will follow you, then pull back, ready to smash down on you. As you see the head pull back, jump to the left or right, then pull back in the opposite direction when the boss’ head has landed on the ground to hit him. After this the boss will try his jumping attack again. Try to run as far away as possible, as if you are too far away the boss won’t bother trying the jump attack and will just move back into the central ‘hole’ again, using its head attack and giving you another opportunity to deal damage. However, when running away, don’t run so far that you are close to the bosses ‘tail’ end, as he can simply turn around.

When you’ve exhausted about half of the boss’s health, a new attack will emerge, where the water level falls. The boss will be sitting on the cylinder, and his head will start moving out along the platform, chasing you towards his tail. Move as close as you can to the tail without taking damage (this may take a few tries to figure out, as you do seem to take damage from the tail rotor blade when it doesn’t look as though you’ve actually touched it…) and then once the head has ‘snapped’ at you, immediately jump towards it to damage the boss. The water level will then rise back to its normal level. Just carry on avoiding the jump attacks, hit the boss when he uses his head smash attack, and learn the safe distance from the tail rotor when the water drains and this boss should be no trouble.


* Mirage Road Boss:
This dung-beetle styled boss is similar to the Water Palace Boss in that the battle takes place on a round platform and sonic can run around the edge in a circle, but is unusual in that you cannot directly attack the boss this time. Instead the metal balls the boss rolls around must be used against him to damage him.

When the boss is chasing you, rolling the ball along as he goes, it’s a simple matter of running away as fast as you can. The ball will switch between a smooth, flashing sphere and a spiky ball. When the ball is flashing and without its spikes you can hit it, so if you think the boss is about to run you down, just jump into the ball when it’s flashing to buy a few seconds. The boss should get bored of chasing you after a while, and just push the ball after you. When the ball gets half way round the circle, the boss will turn around to meet the ball as it comes back to him. Once he has turned around, wait for the balls spikes to retract, and jump into it to send it back the other way, hitting the boss in the rear and causing damage. If the ball is coming at you fast and it’s not going to change back to the flashing version without spikes in time, or you’re sandwiched between the boss and his ball, then you can jump over the spiky version of the ball, but it’s a little risky, as it requires pretty good timing with your jump so you won’t touch any of the spikes. Also, later on, the boss will start jumping over the ball as it’s going to hit him. If this happens, you just have to quickly hit the ball again (it shouldn’t go spiky after he’s jumped over it) and it’ll hit into him.

When the boss has taken a fair bit of damage he’ll have an extra attack in his repertoire. He will sometimes fly into the air, throwing spiky balls at you. There are two variations on this attack, one is very easy to avoid, and the other a fair bit harder. The first time he launches the attack will generally be the easy version. All you have to do is run left or right and the balls will hit the platform behind you as the boss aims for where you are, rather than where you will be when the ball actually hits. The other version of the attack is harder as the boss takes into account your ‘moving target’ status and the balls will hit you unless you jump or change direction at the right moment. If you hold left or right and jump a split second after he throws a ball you should be okay, but you can also jump and change direction while in the air as he throws each ball, which some people may find easier.

The boss will start rolling the ball faster as he gets less health, but if you’re ever in a tight spot, remember you can jump over the spiky ball to avoid damage. As long as you pay attention when the ball is rolling towards the boss and make sure you quickly jump into the ball again if he jumps over it, you should be fine and onto the next zone in no time.


* Night Carnival Boss:
Another circle platform boss, this one isn’t too hard when you get the hang of it. The boss is raised above your head, out of reach, but on the opposite end of the bar he’s attached to there’s a metal ball. It will sometimes have a yellow field around it, and you shouldn’t try hitting it when this is present. The ball will pass over your head, but is within jumping distance. When it’s yellow field is off, jump up and hit it as it spins over you. When it spins over you, watch out for yellow bolts of electricity flying down, as these will damage you. Hitting the ball though doesn’t harm the boss, but tilts the bar, so the boss is now in reach. Go hit the boss, but be wary of the small enemy that appears each time you hit the ball. The enemy can be killed by jumping on it, but you can use it to your advantage by killing it at the right time. Jumping on it will launch you high into the air, high enough to hit the boss without having to lower him by hitting the electrified ball first. This means you can potentially get two hits on the boss for every time you hit the electrified ball.

As the boss gets less health the ball and boss will spin faster, and the ball will spend more time electrified, with only small windows for hitting it. The ball will flash red when it’s about to activate it’s electric field again, so keep clear. Also be aware that the ball can lower itself slightly so the bottom spike will hit you as it spins around. If this happens you’ll need to duck to avoid taking damage. If you hear the boss say ‘Get Ready to be Schooled!’, he’s about to use the ball to smash into the ground, creating blue shockwaves that will go round the circle and collide halfway round, destroying each other. These blue shockwaves are quite easy to avoid most of the time (just jump over them), but sometimes they will move very fast. Also make sure you get out of the way of the ball itself, as if this hits you as it slams down, you’ll be killed instantly! This boss may take a little practice, but the fact that you can use the small enemies dropped by the boss to score extra hits makes it a fair bit easier.


* Huge Crisis Boss:
Looking nearly identical to the Leaf Storm Boss, the Huge Crisis Boss is, as you’d expect, more challenging. His attacks are less predictable and better at tracking you, so they’re harder to avoid. His main attacks will be very familiar, but as mentioned before they will track you better, giving you less time to get out of the way. His ‘Take This!’ attack is flinging his head back and bringing it crashing down, although there are two variations on this. In one he will hit the platform and stay there momentarily for you to hit him. In the other he’ll hit the platform three times in quick succession before you have a chance to attack, so make sure you know which variation it is before leaping over to hit his head. It’s also worth noting that the triple hit doesn’t necessarily hit the exact same spot each time, but he can move his head very slightly left or right for each hit, meaning if you only just avoided the last hit, it’s best to move a little further away for the next hit. His ‘Get Ready to be Schooled!’ attack is the same as well, but again, tracks better. There is a chance to hit him after this attack, but I find the easiest way to avoid it is holding Down and B as he’s waiting to attack and release them just as he starts to bring his head down on the platform to speed away. This generally won’t leave you time to attack as well, but it’s the safest way to avoid the instant death move.

Unlike his Leaf Storm counterpart though, the Huge Crisis Boss won’t place his ‘head’ on the platform and roll it at you, knocking you off the platform. Instead, he’ll move into the background sometimes, and place his head near the turrets you can see in the distance and fire off missiles towards the platform you’re on. This attack is relatively simple to avoid getting damaged by, just watch the path of any missile that looks like it’s headed towards you and move slightly left or right out of danger. Again, it may take a little practice to get the hang of this one, but it shouldn’t take you too long to conquer.


* Altitude Limit Boss:
As the zone is called Altitude Limit, a flying themed boss was definitely in order, and one is provided with a mechanical mix between a fighter plane and a bird of prey. This boss is definitely the hardest of the regular bosses, with a basic attack that’s very difficult to dodge when you first start. The boss will move from side to side, shooting white projectiles at you on the platform. As the boss is tilted, one set of the projectiles will be above head height, potentially hitting you if you try to jump, the other set right at your ground level. I find the easiest way to avoid taking damage is to stand still, waiting for the boss to come in line with you. Without jumping, wait for the projectile to the left or right (dependant on where the boss is coming from) to pass you and immediately press towards it to avoid the next projectile. This means the boss is now on the other side of you, and you can run close to the edge of the platform so you have to weave between the stream of projectiles as few times as possible. After this attack there is no chance to hit the boss, but the boss should then carry out a move that will let you hit him.

The first of these is pretty easy to avoid, and also easy to hit the boss after. The boss will fly towards the platform, grabbing it with its legs, then smash it’s beak down. If the boss hits you as it grabs the platform with its legs you’ll be knocked off your feet and will get hit by the beak attack, so just make sure you get out of the way as the boss flies towards the platform. Then you just need to make sure you’re not in line with the boss’s head (which you shouldn’t be if you got out of the way of the body as it flew towards you) and jump on it when it hits the platform. The other attack that allows you to dish out some damage involves the boss landing on your platform and jumping into the air, trying to stomp on you. His head will come down as he lands too, which can also hit you, but allows you to jump up and hit it. Unfortunately this attack is easy to avoid if you don’t want to hit the boss, but as the window of opportunity for hitting the boss is short, if you want to damage him you need to stay quite near to where he’s going to land. This can be quite hard to judge at times, but again, it’s a matter of practicing and figuring out where you need to be to avoid the attack and still hit the boss’s head.

When he’s running out of health he can also use an instant death move on you. He’ll land on the platform as though he’s going to do his jumping attack, but you’ll see an icon in the bottom right of the screen showing the four DS buttons (A,B,X,Y) with ‘bash’ icons around A and B. At this point I find it easier to move my left hand over to meet the right hand, and have my right thumb over A and my left over B. You just need to mash A and B alternately to prevent the boss blowing you off the opposite end of the platform. It’s not too hard, but can come as a bit of a surprise and be rather confusing the first time it happens. Again, practice makes perfect on this one, and once you’ve perfected avoiding the boss’s basic attack and had some experience with the jumping attack, you should be fine (so long as you’re button mashing skills are up to scratch to avoid the instant death).


* Dead Line Boss:
Although this is the final regular zone, it has a quite easy boss. Sonic and Blaze have a showdown, with you controlling the character you’re currently playing as. Both characters, as the boss enemy, have broadly similar moves. Both make extensive use of their Down and B attack as you’d use when playing as them, but in this boss battle each also has a couple of extra moves. As the boss, both Sonic and Blaze may jump up into the air and stay there for a short period, then launch themselves at you. Neither of these attacks is especially hard to avoid, but neither provides a certain opportunity to hit the other character. That is perhaps the biggest difference between the regular boss battles and this. Instead of simply avoiding attacks until an opportunity to damage the boss appears, the opportunity to damage is almost always there. You cannot harm the other character when they’re preparing a Down and B attack (ie. Sonic is rolled in a ball or Blaze has flames coming from her shoes) or when they are floating in the air, about to launch at you, but both are vulnerable when standing or running on the platform. However, they’ll often do a little hop to avoid attacks, or use an attack of their own so they become immune to your attacks if you’re too obvious in your attempts to damage them. A useful tactic is to run towards them when they are standing, and instead of aiming to jump on top of them, wait until the last second to jump, so the boss has no time to dodge or use an attack of their own while you’re in the air. Another useful way to damage the boss is to stand at one end of the platform, and wait for them to attempt to attack you. It is best if they try a Down and B attack, but the jumping and launching attack can also work. When they attack you, jump over them, and fall on top of them. Sometimes they’ll stand at the edge of the platform where you were momentarily, and you’ll land on them, dealing damage. It won’t always work, but is another useful tactic.

Both characters also have a unique special move too. When fighting Sonic, he may leap into the air and speed around, creating a whirlwind to suck you in and damage you. Blaze can summon up a series of fire columns to flare up beneath you. If you are fighting Blaze her super attack is quite easy to avoid. You will see some flames beneath you just before the flame column erupts, giving you a short time to avoid it. There will be a series of these, so the only thing you must be wary of is getting backed into a corner by the series of columns. While fighting Sonic, if you see he’s conjuring up a whirlwind, you simply need to start running the other way. If he only creates a single whirlwind then you should be fine. However, Sonic can create multiple whirlwinds in quick succession. This can be hard to avoid, as he will always attempt to create them directly over you. You just have to be wary of this attack, and as soon as you see him finishing one whirlwind and moving towards you, try to quickly run under him before he forms the next whirlwind.

When the other character is down to one health, the two will charge each other. Winning is simply a case of tapping A and B alternately, just like the wind attack for the Altitude Limit Boss, although it’ll take considerably more (and faster) tapping to win this one. As you tap, you’re character will advance forward, eventually pushing the other off the edge. If you get pushed off the edge, you’ll lose a life and have to start the battle again. It’ll take a while, but don’t give up and keep tapping as fast as you can and you’ll beat Sonic or Blaze soon enough, and will have completed every ‘normal’ zone, with only F-Zone left.


* F-Zone:
This zone has no regular acts, simply composed of a final boss battle, and it’s against a massive mech far bigger and tougher to beat than any of the bosses you’ll have yet experienced in Sonic Rush.

The first attack will always consist of the boss mech slamming his left and right fists down alternately. The trick with this attack is to stay in the middle of the two fists, moving towards the raised fist as the other comes crashing down, then jumping towards the just lowered fist as the shockwave approaches you, so you ‘weave’ from left to right, avoiding the slamming fists and jumping over the shockwaves produced. When the sequence has ended, the final fist will stay in place, flashing, for you to hit (you can also hit the boss before he has ended the smashing sequence if you hit a fist just as it’s hit the platform and before it’s raised again, ending the boss’ frenzy prematurely). The first time the boss will only do two smashes, but the number and speed of these will increase as the battle continues. Hitting his fist however does not do any damage, but will make the boss move to the right end of the platform. There he will smash his fist at the end of the platform a number of times (initially three), sending out shockwaves you must leap over (again, the number and speed of these will vary as the battle goes on). Jump them all and hit his fist again, and his arm will be left in place. Now you must run up it, and hit his head to deal damage. But he won’t just let you up there without a fight. After a few seconds his arm will start to shake, and you’ll have to stop and hold Down to duck, so you hold onto the bosses arm and don’t get shaken off. The boss will shake his arm three times, the third time you’ll always be thrown off, and he’ll go back to behind the platform (ie. you’ll have missed you’re chance to damage him). However, the first couple of times you have to run up his arm you can get all the way and hit him without having to stop, if you’re quick. Hit his head and you’ll fly off him and back to the centre of the platform, while he’ll move back behind the platform ready for another attack.

His other basic attack also involves smashing his fists, but he uses both together to instantly kill you. This is slightly harder to avoid as he uses both fists at once and so hits a larger area. As soon as you realise he’s doing this attack, move slightly to the right or left, so you’re just off centre of the boss. At this point charge up a Down and B attack, making sure to hit B a fair few times to get your speed up. As soon as you see his hands begin to come down, release your attack and speed away. This attack also unleashes shockwaves towards you, so beware of these as you head back towards his fists to smack them. Hitting them will have the same result as hitting his fist had after the other attack. You can discern these fist attacks, as when he’s preparing the double fisted, instant kill attack, he’ll say ‘Get Ready to be Schooled!’, while he says ‘Take This!’ for the alternate fist attack.

When he’s down to six health (ie. you’ve already hit him twice) and you’re trying to climb his arm, his arm-shaking will get much more frequent, and where previously it was possible to make it up in one go, this time you will need to stop and hold Down at some point, a good place is at the end of his forearm, just before the thinner, white section. As usual, the third shake will knock you off for good.

After you’ve hit him three times (ie. he has five health) a new attack is available to him where he shoots a laser at you. He will almost always use this straight after you hit him the third time. He’ll begin to raise his arms, but will end up crossing them, and then start shooting a laser beam at you. The laser itself won’t damage you (as it’s supposed to be in the background), you simply have to avoid the explosions that follow it, jumping over them. This can seem tricky at first, but if you simply run one direction, then the other, jumping whenever you’re in danger of being touched by the explosions it works surprisingly well. It’ll take a little practice to get used to the idea that you’re avoiding the explosions rather than the laser itself, but keep practicing and you’ll get it eventually. There’s also another variation of the laser that is used more rarely, and I actually find easier to avoid. Usually the laser is shot in multiple short bursts. This means is can start at one position, move along a little, but then start somewhere completely different. The other variation is a continuous beam. Because it is continuous however, it is easy to simply run one way, then change direction and jump over the explosions trailing behind you, and repeat until it’s over. Also remember when avoiding the lasers to make use of Sonic and Blazes R move. Blazes can buy you some extra time in the air for avoiding the explosions, but Sonics quick dash in the air can also give you some much needed extra distance to escape getting hit. The good news about the laser attacks is that if you manage to avoid the attack without getting hit once, the boss will immediately go to the right of the platform as if you had hit his fist, giving you an opportunity to hit him again after he’s finished sending shockwaves at you.

Also once he has been hit three times (five health left), whenever you are trying to run up his arm to hit his head, a number of hexagon objects will roll down towards you. You can simply jump at or over them, and you can make it to the top and hit the boss before he shakes his arm the first time assuming you jump over or through the metal hexagons. If you’re not going to make it up in time and there’s still more metal objects rolling towards you, you can ‘hide’ from them on the white bit of his arm just before the spiky shoulder ball. If you stay here, the remaining metal hexagons will roll over your head.

When the boss has been hit five times (three health left) his final move will be available, and he’ll generally use it straight after he’s hit the fifth time. The boss will raise his arms, smash his hands together in the air in front of his chest, and one of the aforementioned metal hexagons will fly over his head. It will shoot lasers out of its left and right sides diagonally down to the platform you’re on, trapping you in the middle. At this point you just need to stick between the edges of the lasers. It’s hard because you can touch the lasers without being damaged (and you’ll often have to ‘touch’ one laser in order to avoid the other), as long as you stay within certain boundaries, so it takes a little practice to get where these boundaries actually are. Also, it feels a little easier as Sonic, as he seems a little shorter, so it looks less like the lasers are skimming his head. There is a variation on this move, where multiple metal octagons will fly from behind the boss. Again, each will shoot two beams from it diagonally down, but because there are multiple octagons coming at you, only one will be ‘solid’ at any given time, the other sets of lasers being semi-transparent. These transparent lasers can’t harm you, so it’s just a case of moving to the transparent lasers and moving on to the next set of transparent lasers before the one you’re near becomes solid. Again, this move will take practice. The first time you see it you’ll likely be hard pressed to distinguish the ‘transparent’ and ‘solid’ lasers amongst the chaos, but a little practice and you’ll soon see the difference and be able to dodge the attack quite effectively. As with the laser attack there’s no chance to hit the boss’ fists after this attack, but instead the boss will immediately move to the right of the platform, ultimately giving you a chance to hit him, if you manage to survive the attack without getting hit. If you do get hit though, another attack will follow straight after.

When the boss has been hit for the seventh time, (only one health remaining) you can breath a sigh of relief, as you’ll be treated to a very short bit of speech by Eggman / Eggman Nega, then the boss will ram the platform you’re on three times. The third time the boss will stay in place, and you just have to quickly jump up to where his head is and hit him to deal the final blow. However, don’t wait too long. After about ten seconds, the boss will break through the platform you’re standing on, causing you instant death. Once you’ve dealt the final blow, sit back and enjoy the cut-scene and the game credits. Then do it all again as the other character!



** SECTION 5 – Bonus Stage Basics **

Bonus stages are accessible by Sonic only. While going through the game, you may see Special Generators. These are circles with a yellow star in the centre, an orange half and a blue half, and an orange and blue handle, one on the left, one on the right. Sonic will grab one of the handles if he jumps towards the Special Generator. At this point the Special Generator will flash. Press and hold X or Y to make Sonic rush. He’ll make the Generator spin around. If you have at least 21 bars of your tension gauge filled up (ie. if you have all bars blue and at least one yellow bar) you will have enough rush time to activate the Special Generator, opening up a portal that Sonic will fly through. There is a different Bonus Stage for each of the seven main zones (Leaf Storm through to Dead Line). Note that there are multiple Special Generators in each Zone. It doesn’t matter or make any difference which Special Generator in the particular Zone you use to access each Bonus Stage.

The aim of the special stages will be familiar to anyone who played Sonic 2 on the Megadrive. You run down a half-pipe collecting rings and avoiding spiky balls. You need to have collected a certain number of rings by the halfway point, and that number will then be increased and you’ll have to gather more rings by the end of the stage. If you fail to meet these ring quotas you’ll fail the bonus stage and won’t earn the Chaos Emerald you’re after.

You control the Bonus Stages with the touch screen. Drag the Stylus across the screen, rather like a mouse on a mouse pad, to direct Sonic left and right through the half-pipe. Drag him over the edge of the half-pipe and he’ll leap up into the air on that side, trying to grab any items up there. Quick reflexes and practice with the control method will be necessary to get through all Bonus Stages successfully. Here’s a run down of the things you’ll need to collect and avoid:

Pickups:
* Gold Ring – These are your basic collectables. Each is worth one ring in bonus stages, and there should always be plenty around to collect.
* Spinning S-circle – These spinning circles with an ‘S’ in the centre are worth 5 rings if you pick them up, so make good use of them!

Useful Objects:
* Switches – These are purple/red dots on the floor of the half-pipe. Running over them will activate the switch, making them turn blue, and a group of rings will appear in the Bonus Stage just ahead of you.
* Boost Pads – These are black/grey with red and yellow sides, and red arrows pointing forwards on them. Run over them and they’ll boost you forward on a set path, usually through a line of rings surrounded by spiky balls on either side.
* Trick Spring – These are circular objects with a yellow star in the centre and a red border. Running over them will cause Sonic to shoot up into the air. A number of numbered circles will appear on the touch screen as well as a time bar that will be draining. Hit each numbered circle in order (starting with 1) before the time bar runs out to earn five or ten rings. Success may also result in another set of circles appearing, a further opportunity to earn five or ten rings. These are one of the best ways of getting rings if you’re good at using them, and you should do your best to hit them.

Obstacles:
* Spiked Balls – The only things in bonus stages that are purely there to cause you injury and have no redeeming features. However, they don’t move, and are usually quite easily avoided. If you do run into one you’ll lose ten of your rings.

Enemies:
* Red Planes – These are the basic enemy type and will often come in packs (or squadrons I suppose…). They are easy to avoid as long as you’re not pushed for room due to Spiked Balls. They can also be killed when they come close enough. When in range, a faint green circle will appear around them. Tap them at this point and Sonic will jump at them, destroying them and gaining two rings in the process! If however you don’t manage to avoid them, they’ll damage you, causing the loss of ten rings.
* Purple Birds – These are advanced enemies. Instead of just blindly flying past you, they’ll hover in front of Sonic for a short period, every so often launching themselves towards Sonic. They are especially annoying as they’re attacks are quite hard to avoid and they obscure the track in front of you. Again, when they are close a green circle appears around them. Tapping them with the Stylus will attack them, but these enemies take three hits before they die. However, when they do you’ll gain ten rings in reward. Again, taking damage from this enemy will lose you ten rings.

The first few Bonus Stages should be easily completed, and even the harder ones shouldn’t be too much hassle given a few practice runs. However, the final Emerald is a different story, so there’s much more detail on how to successfully obtain that one in section 6.



** SECTION 6 – The Final Emerald **

Obtaining the final Chaos Emerald is very difficult simply because the Bonus Stage for it is so hard. At first inspection it seems near impossible. However, a lot of practice, and you should get the hang of it, and eventually you will get that final elusive Emerald. To make things a little easier however, there is a Special Generator located in Dead Line Act 1 that will let you enter and re-enter the Bonus Stage as many times as you like (at least until the 9 minutes 59 seconds time limit for the stage is reached). Although there are multiple paths through the level that lead to the generator, one specific path is detailed below:

Start the level, run forward, hit the bouncer sending you up the left ramp, go through the boost circles that launch you into the air, and carry on running right, down the large ramp. Grab the rocket, holding right, and it’ll carry you up to the platform above. Run left avoiding or killing the enemies. Again, grab the rocket. You can either hold left so you bend round and land on the platform above you, or just head straight forward, smash into the wall ahead and fall onto the bouncer to launch you to the platform above. Either way, when you’ve landed on the platform, run right, through the loop-de-loop and the boost circles and over the anti-gravity platforms to the next loop-de-loop. Run through this and down the vertical wall, into the cannon. Fire when it’s at its highest point to land on the higher platform, and run right into the swing. Hold right until it switches direction, then hold left to run across the ceiling and towards the next swing that’ll put you back the right way up. Run right through the loop-de-loop and over the ramp to land on the spring pad that’ll launch you vertically into another loop-de-loop. After this you’ll enter another cannon. Again, shoot at it’s highest point so you get onto the grind bar above the floor, and grind along this to the end, through the boost circles. Run right, up the wall to be bounced back down, and to the left, then into another cannon. Yet again, fire when it is at it’s highest, and reach the higher platform. Run to the right and into the swing, which will let you run up the ceiling and into a spring pad that’ll shoot you to another platform with a vertical spring pad. Run into this, and through the loop-de-loop. Boost when you hit the large block to take out a couple of enemies, then jump onto the block. You can then use the two flying enemies to bounce on in order to reach a floating item balloon containing a 1-up. Hit the bouncer on the right wall to speed down the ramp, then hit the next bouncer to speed right again, and onto a rocket. Press right slightly, but don’t hold it. The rocket should hit the ceiling and you should fall onto the upper platform where a Special Generator is located. If you don’t make it onto the upper platform, don’t worry. If you’re on flat ground, move right, if you’re on a slope, head left (down the slope). You’ll find a cannon there, get in it and fire when it’s tilted slightly to the right, then hold the right button to get up to the generator platform. This generator can be used infinite times. If you ever run out of bars on your tension gauge, simply run left off the upper platform and into the cannon on the lower platform. This cannon can be used to fire Sonic, and when you’re in the air you can pull off tricks to replenish your gauge. Again, just fire when it’s slightly angled to the right to get back up to the Generator platform. Cannons are different from regular objects you can trick off, in that normal objects will lose their trick potential the more you trick on them. So if you keep using one spring pad to trick off, the number of points and amount of tension you garner from tricks will decrease gradually, until you’ll get nothing at all. Cannons do not do this however, so however many tricks you pull off using this cannon, you’ll still be able to replenish your gauge easily and therefore re-enter the Bonus Stage.

With this infinite Special Generator located it’s simply a matter of practicing the final Bonus Stage tirelessly until you finally obtain the necessary rings. But for those of you in need of more help on this hardest of Bonus Stages, a mini-guide to the final Bonus Stage is below. Obviously you’ll still need practice, as the Bonus Stages require precision and quick reactions, but the guide below should prove useful if you’re in need of a helping hand:


* First Half:
The first two sections you really just need to practice a lot, but it’s really not worth trying to get every ring. It’s not going to happen, and you’re better off picking a route you know you can navigate well, minimising the risk of taking damage. Also, if you do get hit, bear in mind that for a short period after you are immune to damaging objects, so use this time to grab those S-circles worth five rings.

Straight after these two opening sections are three walls of spiky balls with two-ring wide gaps in them. The first ring gap you need to get through is on the right of the course, so it’s worth trying to finish the second of the first two sections on the right (picking up the final S-circle if you can). The second ring gap is to the left, and the third back on the right (the third gap has an S-circle rather than rings). Straight after the third gap (and right in front of you if you did make it through the gap) is a switch. Hit this and swiftly avoid the three pairs of spiky balls ahead and then grab the line of rings. Do this another two times, activating the switches and collecting the rings that appear.

Straight after are six thin spike walls, again with two-ring wide gaps to get through. There’s very little space between each wall, so you really need to be quick to move from one gap to the next. Each wall has room for nine spiky balls, but will only have eight balls, the gap where the ninth could be is filled in with two rings. The layout for the six ‘walls’ is as below, with * denoting a spiked ball and 0 denoting the two rings.

* * * 0 * * * * *
* * * * * * 0 * *
* * 0 * * * * * *
* * * 0 * * * * *
* * * * * * 0 * *
* * 0 * * * * * *

Straight after the final wall is a Trick Spring in the air on the left of the half pipe. If you get through the last gap, you should be well placed to leap into the air and hit it. Hitting the Trick Springs in this stage is near essential. If you know you can’t make it through the walls before this spring without getting hit, it’s a good idea to purposefully hit one of the middle walls, so you’ll be immune to further hits before the Trick Spring and will have time to recover so you can hit the Trick Spring. If you hit one of the final walls you won’t have recovered in time to hit the Trick Spring.

Assuming you managed to hit the Trick Spring, gaining the rings from it (5 per trick) is relatively simple. If you know the layout of the circles for each trick you’ll have plenty of time. Both tricks have the circles laid out in a circle, with six circles making up the outline, and one circle in the centre. The first trick starts the numbers at the top of the circle, and then goes counter-clockwise round the circle, finishing in the centre. The second trick starts in the centre, then goes to the topmost circle, then around the circle counter-clockwise.

After the Trick Spring is another section like the opening two, lots of pairs of rings interspersed by spiked balls and the occasional S-circle worth five rings. Again, just practice this bit, and do all you can to avoid taking damage. After this section, to the left of the half-pipe, is a Boost Pad to boost you through a line of rings between a bunch of spiky balls. After this is a hill, with groups of three spiky balls. Go just to the left of the first set, then right of the two central groups. Now move into the gap in the centre, and line yourself up with the gap between the two central groups in front of you. As soon as you’re through the gap, move left slightly to avoid the cluster straight ahead of you, and you should move right onto another Boost Pad, sending you down a line of rings again.

After this second Boost Pad is a wall of spikes with no gaps! You can either jump over the edge of the half-pipe as you approach this, or you can hit the Red Plane enemy behind the line to jump at the enemy and over the balls. The latter method is preferable, as it also nets you two rings.

Straight after this are bunches of four balls in square shapes, with square bunches of rings right behind them. This kind of layout is easy to tackle, and the kind of thing you should have come across and mastered in previous Bonus Stages, so I won’t dwell on it.
However, the next section is another series of thin walls, with little room in-between. Again, you need to be very speedy to get through all the gaps uninjured, and below is a layout of the balls and gaps, with *’s representing Spike Balls and 0’s representing the two ring gaps, as before:

* * * 0 * * * * *
* * * * * * 0 * *
* * 0 * * * * * *
* * * 0 * * * * *
* * * * * * 0 * *
* * 0 * * * * * *

In fact, the layout of these walls is exactly the same as the previous one. However, the Trick Spring after these is on the right this time, meaning you’ll need to cover more ground to get there. When you’re launched onto the air, the first trick has six circles positioned in a circle, with another in the centre as before. The order of the circles is centre-top, then centre-bottom, then left-top, then right-bottom, then right-top, centre and finally left-bottom. The second and third tricks are three circles in a triangle. The second trick is top-right first, then centre-bottom and finally top-left. The third trick is centre-bottom, then top-left and finally top-right. Each trick is worth five rings.

Once you’ve done the tricks, there is another wall of spikes with no gaps straight after. If you hit the Trick Spring, you won’t have time to jump over the edge of the half-pipe to avoid the spikes, but you will (just) have time to tap the Red Plane enemy, and leap over the spikes. And that’s the first half done! Assuming you netted 160+ rings, you’ll be onto the second half, which I don’t think is too hard compared to the first.


* Second Half:
Initially it’s just a matter of collecting the rings in the line on the right, then the line on the left. At this point one of the Purple Bird enemies will have emerged. After the second line of rings, go for the next group of rings to the right, but as soon as you hit the final ring in the group, touch the Purple Bird to attack him. You’ll jump into the air, attacking him and picking up an S-circle worth five rings in the process. After this try to grab the rings to the left, then get the ones on the right. Again as you reach the end of the group on the right, touch the Purple Bird to attack, and you should get another S-circle that’s hanging in the air. If you don’t trust your timing or ability to pick these up however, just collect the rings on the ground instead, making sure to avoid the Purple Birds lunges.

After this there’s a line of rings on the right, and another Purple Bird flies into view. Avoid the spikes on the right, and tap the Purple Bird to pick up another S-circle. Just after you see another line of spikes on the right, hit the Bird again, and you’ll also hit a Trick Spring. The first and only trick (worth 5 rings) is just like one in the first half, a circle, starting in the centre, and then going around the outside counter-clockwise from the top.

Right as you land, you’ll be greeted by another familiar sight, a wall of spikes with a Red Plane. Again, you’ll need to hit the Red Plane to jump over the spikes. Then a series of spikes with rings dotted around, rather like the opening stages of this Bonus Stage, finishing with a Boost Pad on the left. Do your best to avoid getting hit, then run over the Boost Pad, collecting the rings it boosts you through. Jump up to the Trick Spring on the right when you regain control of Sonic after the boost. This has 3 tricks, each worth 5 rings. The first is in another circle configuration, with the first target at the centre-top, then centre-bottom, left-top, right-bottom, right-top, centre, left-bottom. The second trick is a triangle, first the top-right, then bottom-centre, then top-left. The final trick is again a triangle, bottom-centre, top-left and finally top-right.

When you land, there are lines of four spiked balls. At first stick slightly left to avoid the first group, and stay slightly left until you pass another group just to your right. At this point swing to the right to go in-between the two groups in front of you, and then carry on swinging slightly right to hit the Boost Pad. Straight after the boost runs out you’ll have to veer right to avoid a head-on collision with spikes. Once you’ve avoided the first group, veer left to avoid the rest, and if you can get the Trick Pad up on the left of the half-pipe just after the final group.

The first trick is another circle, start at the top, go round counter-clockwise, then finally hit the centre. The second is the same, except start in the centre, then go to the top, then around the circle counter-clockwise. Each trick will net you 5 rings.
After the Trick Pad is another thin set of walls, with a small gap to get through. This time however the gap is marked by an S-circle rather than two rings. Below is a representation of these walls, again *’s are spikes, but this time 0’s are S-circles, worth five rings:

* * * 0 * * * * *
* * * * * * 0 * *
* * 0 * * * * * *
* * * 0 * * * * *
* * * * * * 0 * *
* * 0 * * * * * *

Again, this is actually identical to the previous two sets, but this time it may feel slightly different due to the way the track curves.

Straight after these walls there’s a line of rings just on the right, then another group to the left, at which point a Purple Bird will appear. Go for the rings on the right at this point, and just as you’re reaching the end of the group, tap the Purple Bird to jump into the air, hopefully grapping an S-circle. You’re probably best off ignoring the left rings at this point, and sticking to the right for the next batch of rings there. Again, as you reach the end of the group, tap the Purple Bird to (hopefully) grab an S-circle.
After this is another path littered with spikes, rings and S-circles, much like the opening couple of sections to the first half of the stage. Just try to avoid getting hit, and if you do make sure you use the time you’re immune to damage to pick up plenty of rings and S-circles. After the first one of these sections is another, the final stretch before the end of the stage! This one is a similar story, however, at the end of the section slightly to the right along the floor is a Trick Spring. Make sure you hit this if you’re not quite up to the 320 required rings!

The first trick is yet another circle, start at the centre-top, then go to the centre-bottom, left-top, right-bottom, right-top, centre, and finally left-bottom. The second trick is a triangle, starting at the top-right, then onto bottom-centre, and finally top-left. The third and final trick starts at the bottom-centre, goes to top-left, and then top-right. Each will net you five rings, and when you land, you’re done! Hopefully you’ll have over the 320 required rings, and you’ll victoriously grab the final, purple Emerald!



** SECTION 7 – Exception **

In order to unlock the Exception stage, you’ll need to complete the game with both characters (ie. beat the boss in F-Zone), as well as collect every Chaos Emerald with Sonic and every Sol Emerald with Blaze. The Sol Emeralds are automatically collected by Blaze by beating each boss, so if you’ve won the game with Blaze you’ve already got all Sol Emeralds. Sonic however needs to enter the Bonus Stages using Special Generators and beat these Bonus Stages in order to grab each Chaos Emerald. See Section 5 for a basic guide to the Bonus Stages and Section 6 for a mini-guide to collecting the seventh Emerald, which is by far the toughest of the lot. Once you have all Chaos Emeralds, and have completed F-Zone as both characters, select the ‘Gameplay’ option from the main menu, and on the ‘Select Character’ screen will be an extra option, called ‘Extra’. Select this and watch the cut-scene introducing the Exception Stage, then get ready for some Super-Sonic and Super-Blaze action!

The controls in this section are different to those of regular stages. Since you control Super-Sonic or Super-Blaze and you’re in space, you’re flying, not running on the ground. Use the D-pad to move the character in any direction. With Sonic use A or B and any direction to boost in that direction. With Blaze, use B to boost around, just as you would with Super-Sonic. However, because of her control over fire, Super-Blaze can fire off projectiles. Press A and Super-Blaze will begin charging up the projectile, and about a second later release it. You can move (albeit slowly) while charging this attack.
The other worthwhile thing to note, and something experienced Sonic players will probably know, is that when Sonic (or any other character) goes Super, he consumes rings constantly. Usually he’ll just turn back to normal when all rings are depleted, but because you’re flying through space, turning back to normal here is going to lose you the ability to fly, causing instant death. So essentially the number of rings you have left acts as a timer until you die. Basically, make sure you pick up rings whenever you can!

In the first section of this ultimate battle, you’ll play as Super-Sonic on the top screen. The scene should be somewhat familiar to those who played through Sonic 3 & Knuckles, with Super-Sonic flying through the air, boulders in his path. The difference here is that you can’t just pile through the boulders. Normally they’ll knock you back if you hit them, as will the large laser that shots horizontally across the screen periodically. The good news is that these won’t actually cause any loss of rings. They will however slow you down and stop you moving temporarily, so you’ll likely miss out on collecting some rings while you’re still reeling. Use this time before you meet the boss to collect as many rings as you can. You can smash through the asteroids using Super-Sonics boost, just tap A or B and a direction. Also look out for red asteroids, as these will release a few rings if you smash them.
After this initial stage of collecting rings and avoiding / smashing asteroids, you’ll come face to face with a flying mech. His head is flashing, but Super-Sonic cannot attack him directly. Instead the boss has a number of attacks it can use, some of which Super-Sonic can turn against it to deal damage. Again, most attacks on Super-Sonic won’t cause him to lose rings, just reel backwards temporarily. However, some attacks can cause loss of rings (although not all rings at once as is usual).
The two main attacks the boss will use against Super-Sonic are shooting projectiles. The first involves shooting two blue objects out. These cannot hurt you directly, but every so often will stop moving around to shoot four lasers, one out of each side. If any of these lasers hit you, you’ll be sent reeling. However, if you use A or B to boost into them, you’ll send them flying in the direction you were headed. If you send one flying into the boss’ head, you’ll score some damage to it. The best way to do this is to fly about horizontally in line with the boss’ head. As soon as one of the blue objects comes in line with you and the boss’ head, boost forward and hopefully you’ll hit the blue object, which will hopefully hit the boss’ head. The blue objects will stay for quite a while, but eventually they’ll start flashing red, and explode.
The other type of projectile is a green ball of energy. The boss will shoot these out three in a row. They will move horizontally until they are above or below you, at which point they’ll shoot up or down to hit you dependant on whether you are above or below them. If they make contact with you you’ll be sent reeling. Again, the best way to hurt the boss is to remain in line with his head. As he shoots a green energy ball, boost forward, and hopefully you’ll hit the green energy ball, sending it right back at the boss, and hitting him clean in the face, causing damage.
The boss has two other attacks, which don’t present you with an opportunity to hit him. One involves him making a sort of laser-sword, and lunging at Super-Sonic with it. Again, this sends Super-Sonic reeling, but won’t lose you any rings. The best way to avoid it is to boost down (if you’re nearer the boss’ bottom half) or up (if you’re closer to his top), out of the way of the attack.
The final attack is probably the most time consuming and potentially damaging, as you can actually lose rings from it. The boss will fly into the background, and shoot a number of homing missiles towards you. Your best bet is to boost around in a circle, trying to confuse the missiles and get away from their explosions. If they do hit you, you’ll lose a number of rings. The number of rings you lose and the number of missiles fired will increase as the battle continues.
Just concentrate on avoiding those attacks that can’t be used to your advantage. Don’t worry too much about trying to avoid the blue objects’ lasers or if you get hit by the first in the triple-volley of energy balls. Just try and set yourself up to hit them back at the boss.

After three hits, the boss will be sent reeling back, and will jump down a hole in a strange looking structure, and reappear on the bottom screen. At this point you’ll start playing as Super-Blaze. As previously mentioned, Super-Blaze can boost just like Super-Sonic using B, but can also charge up and fire a flame ball using A.
The initial section of Super-Blazes boss is just like Super-Sonics. A laser firing horizontally, asteroids to avoid or smash through, and red asteroids containing rings. As before, use this section to collect as many rings as possible. When you see the boss, it’ll look identical to Super-Sonics, only inverted, so it’s head is at the bottom and it’s tail floats upwards, and it’s cannon-like arms are replaced with claws. Because Super-Blaze can launch fireballs herself, she can directly attack the boss, and so her version of the boss has no moves that you can ‘reverse’ to harm the boss. However, Super-Blaze still takes some time to charge and fire her fireball, so you really need to time it well or wait until after particular moves when the boss is going to stay relatively still. You’ll need to get her fireball to smack the boss square in the face while his head is flashing (which is, thankfully, most of the time).
Super-Blazes version of the boss has three moves, the first and most basic is a claw lunge, similar to the laser-sword attack for Super-Sonics version, only the boss will slash with one claw, then slash with the other, so he lunges forward twice. Again, the best way to dodge is to boost vertically, either up or down depending on which will get you out of range quicker. Getting hit by this attack will knock you back, but won’t lose you rings.
The next attack involves the boss going into the background, but first he’ll move left across the screen, so make sure to boost vertically to get out of the way. Then he’ll be in the background, and will create a black horizontal line trying to suck you in. If you do get sucked in, you’ll be stuck there for a while, and lose some rings at the end of the attack. As with the Super-Sonic missile attack, the number of rings you lose will increase as the battle goes on. The best way to avoid this attack is to hold Up or Down and repeatedly press B to boost vertically away from the line.
The third and final attack involves the boss pointing one claw at you and firing it. You’ll see the boss take aim, and hear a few beeps as it locks onto you. Boost around vertically and make sure it misses you. If it manages to hit you, it’ll grab Super-Blaze and bring her in, allowing the boss to stab her with the other claw, losing you rings. Assuming the boss fires off his claw at you and misses, then you’ve got a prime opportunity to attack, as he’ll stay still as he waits for his arm to come back to him. So tap A and shoot a fireball at him.
After Super-Blaze has hit the boss three times, he’ll go back up to the top screen to fight Super-Sonic again.

The boss is now back up on the top-screen, and it’s all exactly as it was before, only this time Super-Sonic only has to hit him twice before he’s sent reeling back and goes to the bottom screen.

At this point, the music tempo will up a little, but everything will be as it was the first time Super-Blaze fought the boss, but as with Super-Sonics second battle, you only have to hit the boss twice.

Finally, the boss will move back up to the top for the last battle with Super-Sonic. Just as the past couple of times, but the boss seems to up his game a little, dodging about a fair bit more, and his missile attack now sends out a lot more missiles and will lose you more rings if hit. Also, there seem to be fewer rings available, so make sure you do your best to collect those you do see to prevent the counter from reaching zero. In this final battle though, you’ll have to hit the boss four times to send him flying back.

All in all, this shouldn’t be too difficult when compared with the boss from F-Zone. Super-Blaze has an easier job as she can attack (or try) whenever she wants, while Super-Sonic must wait for the right attacks. Just watch your ring count and make sure it doesn’t reach zero, and similarly watch the timer, as if it hits 9 minutes 59 seconds, then you’ll lose a life.


Once you’ve landed the last hit, sit back and watch the final ending for Sonic Rush!





*** Thanks for Reading ***
Sibs